


What am I afraid of?

by sgtdiaz



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fear of Balloons, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Phobias, globophobia, some original characters too bc why not, what about it, yes im projecting my fear through a childs eyes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24427294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sgtdiaz/pseuds/sgtdiaz
Summary: Balloon phobia (or globophobia) is a fear of balloons.Mac Peralta develops a phobia.
Relationships: Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	What am I afraid of?

**Author's Note:**

> yes, i am projecting my own phobia through mac

When it came to throwing a party, the Peralta-Santiago household were nothing short of prepared for literally  _ any occasion.  _ There was a cupboard crammed full with boxes of decorations, stored and labelled by event and colour (and binders to specify  _ what  _ was in each box and  _ exactly  _ how many of each item there were).

On the day of Mac’s 5th birthday, Jake was in charge of decorations.

_ “I’m trusting you not to knock over any cakes this time, mister,” Amy shot him a pointed stare as she knelt down to tie their son’s laces. _

_ “Don’t worry, I’m not banking on my dad or the admiral turning up,” He turned fully to face her, his smile not quite meeting his eyes. _

_ “It’s okay. The place is going to look amazing,” She smiles as she lifts Mac onto one hip, Jake handing her Mac’s rucksack accompanied by her work bag. _

_ “Have a good day at school, buddy. I’ll see you later!” He kissed his son’s forehead before placing a gentle kiss on his wife’s lips. “and have a great day at work, babe.” _

_ “I love you” _

_ “I love you” _

_ “I love you!” Mac bounces in his mother’s arms, earning a heartfelt laugh from both of his parents. _

_ “We love you too, baby.”  _

It was safe to say the apartment did look amazing, from the birthday bunting hanging on the kitchen arches to the incredibly organised (and incredibly oversized) stack of presents laying on the coffee table. He felt that he may have gone overboard on the balloons, as there were bunches floating on paperweights in every corner of the room and streamers on two of the walls. He was just laying out the last of the snacks on the centre table, which was covered in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spread, when he heard the keys in the door, signalling the return of his two favourite people.

“Okay, Mac, close your eyes!” He heard Amy before he saw her, hands on Mac’s shoulders as she guided him into the room whilst he was giggling with his hands across his eyes.

_ Oh my god, this is incredible!  _ She mouthed at him from behind Mac. Jake couldn’t help the smugness that he felt and he grinned back at her before taking another look at his hard work.

“I’ve crossed everything I’ve used out of the binder,”

“Is there anything left in the box?”

“Surprisingly, this wasn’t even half of it,”

“Can I open my eyes now?” Mac seemed to be physically vibrating with excitement,

“One sec, bud!” Jake assured him, as he took the cake from the kitchen counter and swiftly (but  _ carefully,  _ especially as Amy’s eyes were on him) maneuvered it to the centre of the table.

“Okay! Ready?” He locked eyes with his wife and she nodded, a signal to begin the countdown.

“1..

2..

3!”

  
  
  


What neither of his parents did expect… was for McClane Peralta-Santiago to burst into tears?

He ran back to hide behind his mother’s legs. Immediately upon hearing his cries, Jake bounded around the dining room table to kneel by Amy’s feet and pull their son in as she turned and sank to the floor with him.

“What’s the matter, Mac?” Jake tried to soothe him as he sobbed into his chest, Amy rubbing both of her boy’s backs.

“It’s okay, baby, talk to us,”

After a few minutes of gentle swaying and reassurement, Mac pulled away from them and stared at the floor as he tried to pull himself together.

“I..” he sniffled, “I appreciate it, I really do. There’s just uh,” he shifts his gaze up to his parents and quickly back to the floor, 

“That’s just a lot of balloons,” and just like that, he starts sobbing again.

_ Well, this was definitely new. _

Jake takes another look around the room before saying, “I knew I went overboard,”

“Jake.” Amy takes hold of his shoulder before turning him back to focus on the bigger situation at hand. “What do you want us to do with them, Mac? Do you want us to take a few down?” She questions.

“Can you,” He opens his eyes slightly and peeks around the room, seemingly calculating, and he somehow looks even smaller as he says

“Can you just leave those ones in here?... Please?” He points to the bunch located behind the television.

“Of course,” Jake starts, stealing an exchange of looks with Amy, “do you want me to pop them, or take them into another room?”

Mac takes a deep breath, tears slowing down and his face slowing fading from red.

“Can you put them in another room and pop them when I’m not here please, Papa?” He finally lifts his head to meet his father’s eyes.

“Okay, I’ll go put them in another room until tomorrow, yeah?” Jake opens his arms as Mac nods, then shyly accepts his embrace.

“Cmon Mac, let’s go get you bathed and dressed for your party,” Amy offers her hand to Mac as she stands, running her other hand through Jake’s hair as they pass him.

The rest of the night goes down without much of a hitch, the balloons behind the television aren’t easily accessible to Mac’s friends as they play and dance around to the music. It was clear to see that Mac was a lot more relaxed without the presence of the balloons, except he’d steal the odd glance to his parents’ bedroom door whenever anyone passed it to find the bathroom.

At the end of the night, Mac’s friends are called from his room to put their shoes on and head off home. Most of the parents had stayed, giving Jake and Amy a chance to socialise and find out more about Mac’s new friends other than the brief descriptions they get from their son.

_ “My new friend Josie is really tall!” _

_ “We met someone today called Luka, he’s blonde” _

_ “Mikayla has two mom’s but not a dad, how does that work?” He had so many questions during that conversation. _

As the children re-entered the room, Amy called her son to share her chair at the dining table. That was when he caught sight of Jake, standing at the door and holding the strings of the balloons that were behind the TV. She felt Mac tense in her arms,

“We’re going to give them to your friends as they leave, okay?” She whispers to him as he settles further into her arms.

“Thank you, Mama,” He returns. The two of them happily wave goodbye from their seat at the table as Jake gifts the children with a balloon each on their way out.

Fortunately it was easy to put Mac to bed that night, the adrenaline of the day finally wearing off. Spoken promises of  _ we’ll get rid of them whilst you’re at school tomorrow  _ eased the young boy to sleep. Both Jake and Amy were left wondering  _ when did this start? Will he grow out of it? _

Either way, they’d be sure to protect their son from the things that scare him, regardless of whether they’re harmful or not.

**Author's Note:**

> i plan to make a couple more chapters to accompany this! kudos & comments & feedback would be extremely appreciated <3


End file.
